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Rare Himalayan flower? No, a sea creature

A meme shared on Facebook in South Africa includes a photo of a plant-like organism.

The caption reads: “After a long years, this ‘Nagpushpa’ flower is seen in Himalaya… This flower looks like ‘Sesh Nag’ and only seen every 36 years interval… Please share this, so that most of the people can see and enjoy ‘Gods creation’”.

Does the photo show a plant that only flowers every 36 years in the Himalayas, the mountain range in Asia? 



‘Flower’ a ‘sea pen’


A reverse image search of the meme’s photo leads to an archived photo on the site Photo.net. It was taken by the photographer Gordon Bowbrick in 2013. 

Bowbrick labelled the photo “Sea Feather”, and identified the creature as a sea pen, an invertebrate marine animal. 

According to Britannica, sea pens “occur in shallow and deep waters from polar seas to the tropics”. – Taryn Willows




 

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